Spiritual Guru Deepak Chopra said, the economic meltdown is global problem, so the solution to it is going to have to be global. He feels one is forced to recognise ones interdependence as a downside to the current economic climate. "A few years ago this was a philosophy, now it is a fact."
According to him, the corporate mindset has become used to greed, abuse, cronyism and influence peddling and bureaucracy, and now they have been exposed.
Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Deepak Chopra on CNBC-TV18. Also see the accompanying video.
Q: How can we get out of the economic mess?
A: I think a lot of us were expecting this to happen. The fact is that it should have been obvious a long time ago when you have USD 2.9 trillion circulating in the world markets everyday of which only 2% is actually providing goods and services, so there is something wrong with that economic system. About 98% of those USD 2.9 trillion were speculation derivatives. I have lent you money but because I am not sure you are going to return it to me, I sell the debt to somebody else who sells it to somebody else and so on and so forth.
Q: You have talked about the political leadership within United States but let me ask you if you have actually seen or are you hopeful or optimistic of seeing a change as far as the corporate mindset is concerned? I am going to base this question on two things. First, the outrage that we have seen as far as the AIG bonus is concerned, which they were forced to back down and give back those bonuses because it was government money and the government intervention in that sense forced them to do so. The other point is that a lot of the companies that have actually taken this bailout money are now thinking of ways to give it right back so they can go back and not be questioned as far as CEO compensation is concerned or not be questioned when they are handing out large bonuses. So, is there really a shift as far as corporate mindset is concerned?
A:The corporate mindset is going to have to learn. They took taxpayer’s money and are responsible to taxpayers. It is actually a very shameful thing that the bankers are robbing the bank this time. They expect the taxpayers to bail them out. After they have bailed them out, they expect to actually steal the money all over again. So, that kind of thing is not going to be tolerated. The corporate mindset is so used to greed, abuse, cronyism and influence peddling and bureaucracy and now they have been exposed.
Q: This isn’t the first time they have been exposed. We have seen this happen several times in the past.
A: But now you see this has reached a critical point. It started with Enron, and WorldCom. It was like a house of cards. We were so heavily exposed that there is no going back right now. I don’t think the common man is going to tolerate it.
Q:What is the downside of that because given the current economic climate you would see a surge in this sort of sentiment, the demonisation of capitalism and corporate America, corporate India etc?
A: The downside is people get confused between the philosophy of capitalism and what is happening right now. Capitalism itself is a very wonderful thing. It rewards you for your work and for your creativity. It allows you to accomplish your personal dreams. But so was communism as an idea. These were all based on idealism and idealistic outcomes.
The problem is human beings – you put a human being in any system and sooner or later they are going to corrupt him because we have been so programmed to think about me and mine. Now the fact is the world is showing us right now that there is no such thing as me and mine. The economic meltdown is global. There is no national solution to it. If there is going to be a solution it is going to have to be global. Terrorism is a global problem. If there is going to be a solution it is going to have to be a global solution. The ecosystem and the damage that we have inflicted on the environment, which is global warming is a global problem. So, in a sense we are being forced to recognise our interdependence. A few years ago this was a philosophy, now it is a fact.
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